Totally shocked about the news, as Im a huge comedy/metal fan and he was a pioneer of this bunk ass cult. Rip totally shocked as i only saw them for 33 times the man was a legend and it seems like whole america is devastated . ! Bölzer is so overrated gwar bunks ass

Ric

I don't support hate on dead bands/bandmembers (if you don't like the music - stay away), but I had a good laugh at this - especially the 'ric'

Early 1990s I was zoned out behind the counter in my little record store. Hot outside and few customers, typical mid-week day. Gwar scheduled to play at some downtown venue that night, but I wasn't giving it much thought. I liked what they did OK but considered it kind of hokey to deal with for more than a song or two. Their crowd was mostly beer-monster frat douches looking for a novelty - not my scene.

Seven or eight shabby looking strangers pile in to the shop and start rifling through the racks. This was not a big place, seven or eight people means a full house, and there wasn't ever more than a few hundred CDs and LPs in the place at its most fully stocked, so this gang culls through the goods pretty damn fast. But they're stoked - it seems like every third thing somebody yanks out of the racks generates a gasp or some other expression of surprise and happiness.

I'm watching them, feeling pretty good. They clearly all know each other well - they're calling each other over to look at this or that, swapping finds or handing things over, saying shit like, "Aw, man, you need this!" Even if they don't buy anything, it's still rewarding. 1994, 1995, Gainesville, Florida - the list of bands nobody gave a flying fuck about would astound today's punk-rock record collectors and music fans. And these guys and girls are grabbing CDs, LPs, and tapes of Rudimentary Peni, Wire, The Saints, Negative Approach, the Flex Your Head comp, NY Dolls, Birthday Party - treating each item like it's a chest of fuckin' gold doubloons hauled up from the goddamn Bermuda Triangle.

I also notice everybody has weird red blotches all over their skin. "Shit," I realize. "Those must be fake blood stains. I think these people are Gwar."

Doesn't take too long before everyone starts lining up to check out. They're each dropping hundreds of dollars on loot - and trust me, one single hundreds of dollars would have been a good day in this shop. They're laying on the compliments too, telling me what great stuff I had.

The guy with the biggest stack of stuff and the biggest grin - Dave Brockie - asks me if I'm going to "the gig" that night. I didn't want to insult them (or their money) so I play dumb: "Oh, uh, what gig? Is there a show?"

I must not have been too convincing, because everyone starts grinning and exchanging glances. There wasn't even time enough for an awkward pause before Brockie looks me in the eye, grins double big, and says, "Dude, it's OK. Really. We know we suck." And then they all start laughing, and piling out of the shop, and thanking me, and telling me what a great store I was running. And Brockie's just looking me right in the eye, grinning and laughing and telling me I rule._________________

NWN PROD wrote:

I only like demo era Snuggies. They became too polished once they signed to Relapse.

A truly fucking sad news this was.. All you lucky bastards listing how many times you've seen GWAR live. I've been listening to them since the early 90's, worshipping the first albums and especially Scumdogs which is just brilliant but never seen them live. Sick of you, an instant classic. They never came to Finland although there was some rumours about it a couple of times. I don't like the new stuff but everything from Carnival back is just great. Phallus in Wonderland is a classic, I'll have to watch it again.

The only time I ever saw GWAR was right aver their guitar player had died a few years ago . I put off seeing em cuz they always had such shit bands w em on tour . Not that Iam much of a ghoul fan but it's better than most the other crap. Anyways they got half way thru their set and then Dave and the rest of the members removed their costumes to play Sick Of You and some other songs in dedication to their deceased guitarist. It was pretty wild. At one point Dave jumped off the stage over this massive barrier into the crowd - this jump was like 5 or 6 feet and he landed on his gut - but I think he was drunk so probably didn't hurt to bad. Crazy time for sure . I love Hell-o, Scumdogs, America Must Be Destroyed. Always been drawn to shock rock like GWAR, Mentors, Skitzo, Impaler , etc. it takes some sick twisted creative bastards to do that shit._________________HEADSPLITRECORDS@YAHOO.COM
EXTREME,DRUNK,DISGUSTING - PORTLAND,OR
www.headsplitrecords.storenvy.com
Out Now:
Blaspherian - "Infernal Warriors of Death", Necrophile - "Awakening Those Oppressed"

GWAR gets judged too often by their fans, most of whom find them interesting as a curiosity only.

But, you have to admire their professionalism. Their music is not terrible either, and when you look at the imitators like Green Jell-o, Heavisaurus, et al you realize how far ahead GWAR really was._________________DEATH METAL UNDERGROUND